With clear evidence of political interference in Ms Mai's case it is uncertain when her case will be heard again, and her legal team are only advised in the last minute by the judiciary. Please see the letter of thanks for the support Ms Mai and her family have received:

Mukhtar Mai’s case has been scheduled for Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at the Supreme Court of Pakistan at Islamabad. Ms Mai was just informed by the office of her council Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan. This is an astonishing move. Since 2005, Mukhtar Mai’s case was pending before the Supreme Court without any hearings being scheduled. There continues to be political influence in this case and regular serious threats to her life and the lives of family members in an attempt to pressure her to drop the charges against her perpetrators.

Since 26 January more than 100 unarmed civilians have been killed in protests. AFF urges the African Union Commission to appoint a high-level African woman to be part of the team that will facilitate the resolution of the political crisis in Madagascar and to ensure the equal participation of Malagasy women and their organizations in the subsequent political processes, including elections.

The Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) international solidarity network is deeply concerned by the fact that a sitting Federal Minister, Mr. Qayyum Jatoi, has pressured Mukhtar Mai, the well-known women’s human rights defender, to drop charges against the accused in her case.

Dozens of women’s and human rights groups condemn the recent arrest and imprisonment of Iranian women’s rights activist Alieh Eghdamdoust. She will serve a sentence of three years imprisonment for participating in a lawful and peaceful demonstration in June 2006/1385 in Haft-e Tir Square in Tehran.

Front Line reported, on 17 January 2009, that Ghada Jamsheer, a woman human rights defender in Bahrain, had become the target of a harassment campaign. Ghada Jamsheer and her family have received threats, including many threatening text messages, and have been followed in a car.

The leader of a polygamous community in western Canada who has admitted having numerous wives and dozens of children was arrested Wednesday [7 Jan. 2009] and charged with practicing polygamy, according to court documents and local officials.